1822—1843 3 



Louis Pasteur's father, was taken charge of by his grand- 

 mother at Salins ; later on, his father's sisters, one married to 

 a wood merchant named Chamecin, and the other to Philibert 

 Bourgeois, Chamecin 's partner, adopted the orphan. He was 

 carefully brought up, but without much learning; it was 

 considered sufficient in those days to be able to read the 

 Emperor's bulletins ; the rest did not seem to matter very 

 much. Besides, Jean Joseph had to earn his living at the 

 tanner's trade, which had been his father's and his grand- 

 father's before him. 



Jean Joseph was drawn as a conscript in 1811, and went 

 through the Peninsular War in 1812 and 1813. He belonged 

 to the 3rd Eegiment of the Line, whose mission was to pursue 

 in the northern Spanish provinces the guerillas of the famous 

 Espoz y Mina. A legend grew round this wonderful man ; he 

 was said to make his own gunpowder in the bleak mountain 

 passes ; his innumerable partisans were supplied with arms and 

 ammunition by the English cruisers. He dragged women and 

 old men after him, and little children acted as his scouts. 

 Once or twice however, in May, 1812, the terrible Mina was 

 very nearly caught ; but in July he was again as powerful as 

 ever. The Prench had to organize mobile columns to again 

 occupy the coast and establish communications with France. 

 There was some serious fighting. Mina and his followers were 

 incessantly harassing the small Prench contingent of the 3rd 

 and 4th Kegiments, which were almost alone. "How many 

 traits of bravery," writes Tissot, " will remain unknown which 

 on a larger field would have been rewarded and honoured ! " 



The records of the 3rd Eegiment allow us to follow step by 

 step this valiant little troop, and among the rank and file, 

 doing his duty steadily through terrible hardships, that private 

 soldier (a corporal in July, 1812, and a sergeant in October, 

 1813) whose name was Pasteur. The battalion returned to 

 |France at the end of January, 1814. It formed a part of that 

 Leval division which, numbering barely 8,000 men, had to 

 fight at Bar-sur-Aube against an army of 40,000 enemies. The 

 j3rd Eegiment was called "brave amongst the brave." "If 

 Napoleon had had none but such soldiers," writes Thiers in 

 ■his History of the Consulate and the Empire, "the result of 

 that great struggle would certainly have been different." The 

 Emperor, touched by so much courage, distributed crosses 

 among the men. Pasteur was made a sergeant-major on March 



b 2 



